Arthur Davis was born in March 1920 in New Orleans, Louisiana. After graduating from Tulane University, he was an architect working in the firm of Curtis and Davis, which was doing defense work building factories. His degree merited him an automatic commission as an ensign in the Navy in 1943. Davis spent three very cold months of indoctrination at Dartmouth College, then began his tour of duty back in the New Orleans area, working with the 8th Naval District at the mouth of the Mississippi River. He spent nine months creating land camouflage to protect the shore against enemy submarines. From there Davis was sent to Washington to work with the Bureau of Ships. His was very interesting work, designing small models of every ship in the Navy, from PT boats to destroyers and submarines, and testing their effectiveness in type deception and course distortion. Davis was sent to the Pacific aboard the aircraft carrier USS Bunker Hill (CV-17) from January through July 1944. He was not aboard when the Bunker Hill suffered two Kamikaze attacks, and lost 392 men. Davis did see action, however, in the Marshall Islands. After he was discharged as a Lieutenant junior grade [Annotator's Note: also referred to as a Lieutenant (j.g.)], he used the G.I. Bill to acquire his master's degree from Harvard University, then went on to build a new town in Indonesia for Freeport-McMoRan, and buildings all over the world, including the Smoothie King Center arena in New Orleans, Louisiana.

The camouflage design patterns and color schemes differed between the Atlantic and Pacific, depending on prevailing weather conditions. In Washington D.C., Arthur Davis and his colleagues were testing 15 to 20 inch models in a small theater equipped with a turntable used to see the ships from different angles. Davis recalled there was on-the-job training, then he was on his own. After 14 months Davis went to the Pacific. He was assigned to the USS Bunker Hill (CV-17) and had to interview its skipper, Admiral Gerald F. Bogan. Admirals had their own Marine staff and Davis had to go through numerous check points to get an appointment with him. Davis had to report back to Washington that Bogan did not think much of camouflage; of course, it was a tremendous job to repaint a big ship. Davis felt his work was most appreciated by the PT boat guys, who found the use of different shades of green very effective and useful. His proudest job was on the USS Missouri (BB-63), the ship on which the armistice with Japan was signed. Davis' inspiration came from a design he found by accident on a Turkish stamp. Davis commented that early in the war, camouflage was most important, but once the Japanese military perfected their radar systems, the technique lost its effectiveness, and toward the end of the war the Navy returned to painting ships flat colors. Davis worked in some of the forward bases in Australia, New Zealand and New Caledonia, and saw a lot of the Pacific.

Arthur Davis enjoyed experimenting with original designs for ships of different size and hull shapes. As part of Task Force 58, he covered a big piece of the Pacific fleet. He was very impressed seeing hundreds of ships "hull down" at anchor at Enewetak. At the bureau in Washington [Annotator's Note: US Navy Bureau of Ships in Washington D.C.], there had been 12 officers working together; in the Pacific, Davis wrote his own orders and moved freely between ships and bases where boats put in for repairs and repainting. Although he knew nothing about guns, while on board the USS Bunker Hill (CV-17), Davis was expected to help cover the sky aft battle station on the rear of the ship, a completely exposed and dangerous position. Luckily, he worked with a chief who knew everything about the ship's 38mm guns. The scariest thing he did was to fly out on observation missions with a pilot, and on the return, land on a strip that seemed no larger than a postage stamp. The USS Bunker Hill that Davis served on was scrapped in July 1973; its name was reused on another ship.

Arthur Davis said former President George W. H. Bush was pulled out of the drink and stayed on his carrier [Annotator's Note: the USS Bunker Hill (CV-17)] for a time; the ship was host to many downed pilots who got wet but survived. Other than scouting missions and his position on the battle station, Davis had few other duties on the ship. As a low ranking officer, he wasn't entitled to a cabin, and slept in a noisy bunk right under the flight deck. Davis appreciates his time on board as a unique experience and knows the brave pilots in those fighter planes sank many cruisers and two battle ships. Davis's ship came under aerial attack a few times, and he didn't like that at all. Davis never saw prisoners of war, but did see some damaged Japanese ships at Tarawa. He went ashore there after the Americans had retaken the island and given it back to the British. The scene was rough, covered in debris and temporary cemeteries, but the British insisted he join them for afternoon tea. Davis didn't often take liberty because there wasn't much to do on the islands but sit under a palm tree and look for coral. Things were a little different off New Zealand, a beautiful place where the nurses outnumbered the soldiers and sailors 20 to one. He also commented on Noumea [Annotator's Note: Noumea, New Caledonia], a French possession where the food was much better and the people more civilized. One other memorable leave, his worst, was on hot, humid and nasty Guadalcanal. When he asked the doctor how he could get rid of the rashes he had contracted on his arms and legs, the reply was to get out. So Davis wrote himself orders and left. For the most part, Davis did what he wanted, which was very unusual in the Navy. He believes the main thing he had to give in return was an understanding of how the Navy could better protect its ships through design.

Arthur Davis left the Pacific in July 1944 and returned to the Bureau of Ships in Washington D.C., but there was less to do. When discharged in 1945 he went directly to the masters' program at Harvard, which was quite an adjustment. Upon graduation he joined a prestigious architectural firm in Michigan. Davis' wife was from Detroit. In time Davis came back to New Orleans and formed his own firm with Nathaniel Curtis, a partnership that lasted over 50 years. Thinking back, Davis recalled that he heard about the attacks on Pearl Harbor on the radio, and couldn't believe the news. He was in California at the time and people there were very nervous about a possible Japanese invasion. As a security measure, they interred citizens of Japanese extraction into camps. When he was sent to work in Louisiana, he noticed increased security along the Gulf Coast, and his work in land-based camouflage, which consisted of painting and placing netting over buildings, was meant to secure the shores against German submarine activity. But it was short-lived, and Davis thinks it was a complete waste of time. However, of all the places he was stationed, New Orleans was his favorite.